Wisps
by Ryeloza
Summary: Chapters two and three: What happened to Paige and Phoebe after the final scene of Kill Billie: Vol. 2? Spoilers for Kill Billie: Vol. 2.
1. Piper

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing related to _Charmed_. Darn.

**A/n: **Spoilers for "Kill Billie: Vol. 2." This takes place during the final scene. May be multi-chaptered. We'll see.

**Wisps**

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

_Mommy's not coming home this time…_

_There's no pulse…call an ambulance!_

_I can't heal the dead…_

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

Her mind rushes wildly, blindly. How can she fix this? What can she do? Groping…reaching…any solution…

_Can't heal the dead_…

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

She can't breath…

_White light bursts in front of her eyes, dancing, warming, lulling her away from the cold grasp of **nothingness**. Leo…he's healing…What? Why? Prue!_

_Her eyes open wide and Leo clings to her, desperately, while Phoebe sobs and there, on the floor, Prue lies…Phoebe is cradling her head, weeping, inconsolable…_

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

Oh, God! Wake up!

There is movement and she raises her head and sees…HER! She, who took Leo…Prue…Mom…and now…No! Not Phoebe! Not her baby sister!

_Piper, do you want to hold the baby…_

She wants to lunge at HER. Kill. Maim. Make her take back this fucking destiny!

And then, before her eyes…light, blinding, gorgeous, beautiful light…

_I can't heal the dead…_

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

Save her…

And in front of her is Leo and she reaches out to him with every inch of her soul…

Heal her!

He **knows**. He's been gone…she's been alone…pain, rage, hurt…

Dear, God.

Finally, he's here and he knows and it's not just a dream, but oh, why couldn't it be a dream for once…

"_Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"_

"_Piper, shh. Honey, it's okay."_

"_I want my mommy! Bring her back, Grams! Bring her back!"_

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

Arms around her…Arms around Phoebe…

God, please…

And then, a sound breaks through…through the sobs and the pain and the fog in her mind…

Paige!

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

She can't leave Phoebe alone…Leo…Leo is **there**.

Paige! Oh, Paige!

_She looks a little like Prue, Piper thinks. She smiles like Mom. **I have another sister**…_

A flash of blonde…her heart stops…she knows nothing…nothing but…

_She's the reason Leo is gone. The reason the boys don't have a father Why can't anyone else understand?_.

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

You destroyed my life, she thinks. Blinding, unprecedented fury…never before…

It is primal. She wants to annihilate her, to feel the life drain from her body.

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…

And arms again, restraining, tightening, restricting. Her eyes are blurred, her aim off and he forces her to miss. He needs to let her go so she can kill…

Leave? NO!

Paige! Phoebe!

…DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead…


	2. Paige

**A/n: **Here is chapter two. I might have chapter three up before the finale tonight, but if not it should be up shortly afterwards.

**Wisps**

Someone was muttering nearby, a whispered conversation that Paige could not make out, and she groaned, not happy at the prospect of opening her eyes and ending the fabulous sleep she was having. She felt exhausted, but in a delightful way, as though she had just run a marathon or vanquished a particularly nasty demon. If it weren't for the chatterers, she'd have just kept right on sleeping.

"I think she's waking up," one of them said, and the words registered in Paige's mind, suddenly raising the consciousness of her body. That wasn't right. The speakers weren't...well, they weren't anyone she'd normally have interrupt her sleep. Where the hell was she?

And then, suddenly, the past few minutes (or was it hours? days?) came rushing back to her, and she remembered. Piper and Phoebe...the manor...God, what had happened?

Instinctively she opened her eyes and sat up, though perhaps if she had thought it through, she would have taken a more tentative course of action. To her shock, it was not a pair of demons having the conversation; it was two of the Elders. Disgusted, she realized that one of them was Odin.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded. They looked at her as if she had asked them how the weather was, and Odin sighed loudly. The other Elder, a woman Paige had not met before, sighed, and jabbed Odin in the side with her elbow.

"Well, Paige," she said, her voice almost obnoxiously kind, "you see, there was a terrible fight at the manor. Do you remember?"

Paige opened her mouth to request a speedier explanation, but before she could Odin rolled his eyes and said, "For goodness sakes, Gloria, you're being absurd." He looked Paige straight in the eye. "Look, Matthews," he said, "you died in the battle. We brought you up here to -"

"I _died?" _said Paige, gaping at him. "What do you mean I _died_ in the battle?"

"Great job, Odin. Just because she was a Charmed One doesn't mean that she's going to instantly accept this." She crouched down so she was level with Paige. "During the battle with Billie and Christy," she said, "the manor was destroyed, and in the explosion, you were killed."

Paige ran her hand through her hair, her stomach twisting itself into a giant pretzel while she tried to recall the details of the battle. She swallowed hard. "What about my sisters?" she asked. "Are they okay? They didn't..."

"Piper is fine," said Gloria. "She's alive."

"But what about Phoebe?" said Paige. Her heart clenched inside of her and she tightened her hands into fists in order to stop them from shaking. "She's fine too, right?"

Gloria put a hand on Paige's shoulder. "She didn't make it," she said. "I'm sorry."

Paige's eyes widened and she pushed herself up to her feet, glaring at Gloria and Odin. "That's not true!" she said. "Phoebe is not dead. She can't be." She shook her head. "I've got to get down there, now," she said, crossing her arms and daring either of the Elders to disagree.

"Paige," said Odin, "there is nothing you can do now. Her spirit has already moved on."

"No!" yelled Paige, more angry and emotional than she'd ever felt previously. "It's not true!" Tears were running down her cheeks now, burning salty trails and soaking her face.

Neither of the Elders replied, and the rage inside of her grew even more. "How can you just stand there?" she demanded. "Why didn't one of you save her?"

"No one could have, Paige," said Gloria. "It was impossible."

Paige shook her head, trembling from head to foot. "Even if it is true, Piper isn't _fine_. She's...someone has to be there with her! She hadn't been _fine_ since Leo left so don't stand there and feed me bullshit like that. I have to go to her." Without waiting for a response, Paige tried to orb out, only to find herself unable to go.

"Let me leave," she said, her voice low and harsh. "I've got to be there for Piper!"

"Leo's there now," said Odin bitterly. "And you can't leave. You have a decision to make."

"What decision?" asked Paige, swiping at her cheek with the back of her hand. "You have to let me out of here."

"You have to decide whether or not you want to be a Whitelighter, Paige," said Gloria softly.

For the first time since she'd woken up, Paige truly focused on the two people in front of her. "What?" she said, her voice broken and caught in half of a sob. "I...what?"

"It is your decision to make," said Odin. "Either you can become a Whitelighter, or you can move on. But either way, you won't be going back to Piper. Or Henry."

"You can't stop me," said Paige, although she was fairly certain they could.

Odin looked as though he wanted to argue with her, but Gloria placed a hand on his arm and silenced him. "This is a very important choice, Paige," she said. "If you decide to become a Whitelighter, you have to cut your ties to your past. You won't be able to see your family again."

"That's not fair," said Paige, but Gloria ignored her.

"We also decided," Gloria said, "that you will be working primarily with future Whitelighters, not with witches. Your past as a witch will affect your decision making skills, and you will want to join in where you no longer belong. That is why we rarely allow witches the opportunity to become Whitelighters. The connections are too hard to break."

"This is a rare opportunity," said Odin. "You should think about it carefully."

Gloria nodded. "We may have you train with another Whitelighter if we decide to allow you to guide a witch, that way you may learn by example. But you won't be granted a witch charge until we are certain that you will be able to handle it properly."

"You gave me Billie," said Paige. "If you have all these supposed rules about it, why'd you stick me with her?"

"Billie needed firm guidance and tutorial," said Odin. "We sensed a dangerous impulse in her, an impulse we believed could lead her to darkness. By making you her Whitelighter, we hoped that with the tutorage of the Charmed Ones she could be swayed."

"You were wrong," said Paige. She shook her head. "You knew what she could become and you didn't even warn us."

"Would it have done any good?" asked Gloria.

Paige closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know," she said. "But it couldn't have hurt." She opened her eyes again and stared straight ahead, her eyes not truly focusing on anything.

"You have as much time as you need to make your decision," said Gloria. "There is no hurry."

"We'll be here when you decide."

Paige nodded and felt a fire burning out inside of her. Things were honestly outside of her control. She couldn't save Phoebe. She couldn't be there to make sure Piper didn't go crazy. She couldn't live out her life with her wonderful husband and have a future she had only just caught a glimpse of. Everything had ended while she was caught in a blink of her eyes.

But when her eyes opened, there was something new. Something tangible that she could pursue if she wanted. She just had to take the first step.

"Will I have to wear one of those robes?"


	3. Phoebe

**Wisps**

Phoebe felt like she was floating, a feeling she hadn't experienced since her power to levitate was stolen, and one which she had sorely missed. The idea of flying, levitating, hovering -- whatever you wanted to call it -- had been a dream she'd had since childhood when she used to run around outside with her arms spread out like a bird. Often she'd dream about sprouting wings and flying up to heaven to find her mother, or even to go out and search the country for her father. Wings would open the world to her, she thought.

This sensation, though, was distinctly floating, and Phoebe had no reason to suppose she wasn't, since the there was nothing but darkness all around her. She couldn't even see her hand, even if she held it an inch from her face. For some reason, this didn't trouble her. She wasn't worried, she didn't care. Something horrible had happened, she was sure, but right now, she was simply waiting.

For what, she didn't know.

In the back of her mind, somewhere far off and distant, she could hear Piper. The words she was saying were incoherent, and Phoebe couldn't even tell if she was hearing the present, past or future. Stranger, she could also almost hear her mom calling out to her, but she could see neither of them, nor could she actually distinguish what they were trying to communicate.

"Phoebe?" someone said, right near her ear. Her heart turned over and she turned her head in a futile effort to see who it was, though she thought she already knew. But it couldn't be. _That_ was even more impossible than distant dreams of her sister and her mother while floating in a pool of darkness.

"Phoebe?" the someone asked again, and this time Phoebe was certain who it was. She swallowed hard.

"Cole?" she said softly, in a voice scarcely more than a whisper. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," said Cole. "I...Well I know I shouldn't be doing this...I just..." He sighed loudly.

"Where are we?" asked Phoebe. Dimly, she was becoming aware of something. It was on the tip of her tongue, the realization she knew she was reaching, and yet it remained elusive. For reasons beyond her understanding, she felt calm, despite the fact that her ex-lover was somewhere nearby and she was powerless (this she knew unquestionably) to stop him from doing anything. She should be scared. Cole had been on the brink of insanity the last time she'd seen him. But Paige had assured her again and again that Cole was...

Cole was...

"We're dead," said Phoebe before Cole could answer her previous question.

"Yes," said Cole.

"Well," said Phoebe, tearing up slightly, "it's not exactly how I pictured heaven."

"This isn't heaven," said Cole. "This is something in between. A life of death between heaven and hell. I'm...trapped here, but you won't be."

"I won't?" asked Phoebe.

"No, you'll be moving on. But I just wanted to...I wanted to say goodbye."

Phoebe swallowed hard. "Oh," she said. "But how did you...?" She let the question trail off, knowing Cole would understand even after all these years.

"I have some abilities," said Cole. "And I've been, well, I've been hanging around the manor. I've been...watching you."

"Brushing up on your stalker skills?" Phoebe joked lamely. The lump in her throat was growing significantly.

"I'm dead, but not dead," said Cole. "I don't have much to do with my time."

Phoebe reached out her hand, and it brushed against Cole's arm. She reached down and found his hand, holding it lightly.

"I'm sorry about everything," said Cole, and Phoebe wondered if he was crying. "I screwed up. I know I did. But I was so in love with you."

"I was so in love with you too," said Phoebe. "And I'm sorry that I never heard you out. Or gave you another chance. I was just...terrified. And then everything fell apart so quickly."

"We both made mistakes," said Cole. "And I don't suppose it could have ended any other way, but I wish it had. I really do."

Phoebe nodded, although she knew Cole couldn't see, and squeezed his hand.

"Were you really happy to see me go?" asked Cole.

She sighed. "Part of me was," she said, feeling the inexplicable need to be honest, here at the end. "You brought out a side of me that I was terrified of, and so I became scared of you. And of me. I thought once you were gone, everything would be okay. But it wasn't. Nothing has been right in so long. I can't even pinpoint where it all went wrong."

"Neither can I," said Cole. "I've been thinking about it, but everything seemed to lead to the same point."

"Maybe it really wasn't meant to be," said Phoebe.

"We're soul mates, Phoebe," said Cole, the words determined and strong. "How else could I have stopped you here, simply by wishing it?"

"Then maybe," said Phoebe, "we fulfilled our destiny together. You helped my sisters and me vanquish the Source. We couldn't have done it without you. Maybe that's what you were always meant to do. What we were meant to do together. The rest was just..."

"Yeah," said Cole. He was very close to her now. She could feel his nose brush against her cheek.

"I'm sorry I never said goodbye," said Phoebe.

"This is our goodbye," said Cole. Phoebe turned her head slightly and their lips connected. She was soaring again, as she hadn't in years.

"I love you, Phoebe," he whispered. "I always will."

"I love you too," she said, but he was gone, and there was a cold nothingness left in his place. "Cole?" she said. She turned, and there was a gray light in front of her. "Cole?" She walked towards the light and stepped into it, falling forward into what seemed and endless oblivion. "Cole!" she said again.

But Cole was gone. In front of her was her mother, pulling her into a hug and embracing her warmly. "Phoebe," her mom said, and Phoebe suddenly began to cry wholeheartedly, distraught and in pure pain.

"Phoebe," her mom said again. "Baby, don't cry. It's going to be alright."

Phoebe opened her eyes and through her tears she saw other figures, off in the distance. "Phoebe," said a different voice. Her grandmother. "Phoebe, there's someone here who wants to say hello."

Phoebe turned, blinking back tears and gulping down breaths.

"Hi, Pheebs."

Phoebe laughed, chokingly, and threw her arms around her big sister. "Hi, Prue," she said. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

-Fin-

**A/n:** I hope you all enjoyed this. The final scene of "Kill Billie: Vol. 2" was simply heartbreaking, and I wanted to express what I was feeling in writing. After pouring myself out through the first chapter (which was an interesting style for my to try and somewhat jumbled on purpose, as I don't think Piper would have been thinking clearly), I sat down and thought about what might have been happening to the other sisters. I think this last chapter may be my favorite, surprisingly. It's the first real Phoebe and Cole scene I've ever written. I am planning to dabble in their relationship some more.

Please let me know what you think.

-Katie


End file.
